It was August. I'd been tracking a shipment across the country for a week or so and I was close to getting my hands on it, when a local gang caught wind and set up a decoy to throw me off the scent. I lost about two days tracking a vanful of hippies, searching for a place to crash, and by the time I realized it, I was too far from the shipment to see it on the scanner.

The lost time and fuel pissed me off, but in no time, I'd convinced myself that it hadn't been worth a dime, and I'd started looking for alternative options almost immediately. As I crossed the city limits, out of the dust bowl and back to what the people call "civilization", my truck started to overheat, and I had to leave it by the roadside for a few hours, to cool down. I continued on foot towards the city, found myself a bite to eat and a bottle of coolant for the truck, then crashed in a quiet park, and the sun went down through the trees, as I slept.

When I came to, it must have been about 11:30 in the evening. There were twigs in my hair and bird shit on my jacket, but I hadn't been knifed or robbed, so I took it. On the other side of the park, a bunch of kids were trying to look cool, smoking cigarettes they'd probably stolen from their parents, and they didn't notice me as I slid around the side of the park, a little way from the path lights, and circled back around, to hijack one of their motorbikes. I rolled it quietly down the hill and out of earshot, before twisting the ignition wires together and taking off back towards the truck.

An hour or so on foot was just a few minutes by bike, and when I reached the truck, the engine and body were cool to the touch. I winched the bike up onto the back, then topped up the coolant and turned her over. Like a kitten, she purred, as I pulled back out onto the dusty highway.

The cool night air flowing freely through the windowless doors and over my head was refreshing, if a little cold, at speed. I slowed a little and flicked on the radio for a bit of background noise. When I was back in the groove, I fired up the scanner and it wasn't long before another shipment replied to its modified security signal, reporting its approximate location and the well-being of its contents.
For now.

I floored it down the remains of the old highway, towards my next meal, as it moved steadily across the desert and out towards the sun, wondering what would be waiting for me, this time.